Does god hate human progress?

Question

Genesis 11:6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this (i.e. build the tower of Babel), then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."


it doesn't even say that what they were doing was bad! just that god didn't want man to be capabe of doing very much.

careful, go back and read the story! no mention of pride nor of jealousy. don't answer until you can point out the verse that proves that man was prideful in that story.

defiance against god??? WHERE DO YOU FIND THAT?!!!?

NO MENTION OF DEFIANCE IN THE STORY, READ IT FIRST, please... and thank you. it's very short.

PAPA, suddenly you can see into the mind of god? what does he intend to do about starvation and AIDS in africa, pray tell...

JONES, jesus also predicted that this KINGdom would come before that generation was completely dead. now what do we think about false prophets?

JAN, read the story... garsh, am i the only one who reads the bible these days??? there is NO mention of what you are talking about, man trying to do away with god by building a tower, no mention! and you are also like PAPA, reading god's thoughts... amazing... nothing you are saying is in the written word....

MARVIN, you are trying to assume you know what god was thinking. just take the words for themselves. god was afraid man could do anything, so he confused him.

also, i would like to point out that the tower was headed for the "heavens." plural. that was the term for sky in general, not god's kingdom of HEAVEN (singular).

BESTY, give me the biblical reference to back up your claim. just the verses, i'll go read. until then, it's reading god's mind again. something no christian will admit can be done. also, "babel" only SOUNDS like the hebrew word for "confused." just like if we called it the tower of comfuzzlement.

Answer 1

It's a good question and it's been debated for for centuries. Bible apologists speculate that the builders of the tower were in rebellion to God's command to scatter and fill the earth. That is a speculation which is not addresses in Genesis. However Genesis does state that the men had been traveling (Genesis 11:2). We can only guess if they felt they were obeying God. All the talk of pride and defiance is pure speculation is not backup up by scripture.

Chapter 11 of Genesis does seem to imply that God felt threatened by a tower that reached to the heavens. Of course this view isn't too popular with mainstream preachers.

Answer 2

The tower of Babel means 'strong place of confusion!' You missunderstand God, who is all Wisdom and Almighty. He saw the desire of their hearts, just as Jesus did and always hit the mark by answering the real problem in peoples lives not what they said or it looked like.
God has made man in His own image, therefore very intelligent and able to do so many things, God is not against progress but as all history has proved, when men think that they can do all things and build great and marvelous things they accredit all to themselves and forget God who gave them the ability and gives them the air they breath....air that they can not create, He sends rain on the earth that all things grow. Man can buy seed, plow the ground, plant the seed but if God doesn't send the rain [even the ocean has a source] then nothing grows and food doesn't really come from the grocery store it first comes from various places where it is grown, even animals eat what is grown.
It was not that they build, it was what was in there hearts they forgot who was Almighty.

Answer 3

God allowing human for progress.....this is to test if human will have a capacity in ruling themselves.

In Mathew 6: 9-10 a prayer from Jesus and it mentioned about the coming KINGDOM and it will be done on earth also upon heaven. It is noticed that human are awaiting for the KINGdom that JEsus will be the king for thousand years.

This KINGDOM will replace the HUman government and includes progress.

Answer 4

They were building the tower in defiance of God. Not just that they wanted a nice building. If that were the case all the large cities of today would not have any tall buildings.God gave man the brains to use, He just doesn't like it when we do things with the wrong motive. Like we are God. We are the creation and should respect our Creator.

Answer 5

The people figured if they could build the tower, they wouldn't need God, nor did they need to fear God, because they could plan and even build their own salvation; their own way to Heaven.
God saw the nature of the people - they weren't mature enough in their understanding to be trusted without supervision. Just like small children, when they all got together, they headed right for the cleaning products, and would end up hurting themselves, not only physically, but spiritually. God is our Father. He knows what is necessary to keep the children safe and in order. If any group ever needed guidance and disipline, it would be this group.

Answer 6

In Genesis, the problem was not human progress, it was the attitude that went with it. Solomon was the most intelligent, best educated man of his time.
The purpose of the tower of Babel was a defiance against God.

Answer 7

God realized, this would be only the beginning. It could lead to a series of ambitious power projects taking men on a course farther and farther away from the true God, in defiance of him and his purpose for the planet and for the human race. Again, God stepped in, throwing the project into confusion by acting upon human powers of speech, causing the peoples to disperse throughout the globe.—Ge 11:5-9.

Answer 8

I know it doesn't mention what they were doing was wrong but it may have been implied or God was just not ready for them to become too advanced. Notice he just recently allowed us to gain all this knowledge and technology in the past 100+ years. If he had let them keep the same language they would have rebelled against him even harder than if they were separated by language. God is always looking out for our best interest.

Answer 9

I find it interesting how some people immediately say the people were doing something wrong. It actually doesn’t say that but rather it’s specifically about progress. On this question people also say they were practicing astrology or magic, but doesn’t say any such thing. People like to twist things to justify their god’s actions. Now those particular gods were probably extraterrestrials who went down from their mother ship, and obviously they had something against human progress. But hey, whether they’re god or aliens [actually it’s mythology], we built the International Space Station anyway.

Answer 10

They were building a tower that was supposed to reach to the heavens and they were full of pride and wanted to be equal as God. God confused their language and therefore disrupted their pride and stupidity.